Southwest Baptist University announced today the hiring of Chris Martin as the new head baseball coach. Coach Martin had been the interim head coach for the 2012 season, and has served in some capacity at SBU since his graduation from the institution in 2007.

“Since the very day Chris took over our baseball program, he has made an immediate impact,” Director of Athletics Mike Pitts stated. “In addition to success on the field with 20+ wins, our kids are in a culture where they will grow as students, leaders, and Christians. From where I sit – I’m hoping that Chris Martin is our baseball coach for many, many years to come.”

Coach Martin led the Bearcats to a 21-28-1 record this past season, the highest number of wins since 2005, while tripling the number of wins from the 2011 season. The Bearcats collected their first 4 games series sweep since 2006 when they swept Lincoln back in March, and had a day sweep of #8 Emporia State earlier in the season.

“I’ve known Chris ever since he was an outstanding student at SBU,” SBU President Dr. Pat Taylor stated. “After he graduated we employed him to be a head resident director at one of our dorms where he did an outstanding job in that role. He then moved to athletics full time and has done an excellent job. This year as the interim baseball coach we had a great year and I am excited about where he can take our baseball program. Chris has done an excellent job with everything we have asked him to do.”

Players have seen great success under Coach Martin in 2012 with three athletes earning All-MIAA honors, two earned MIAA Student-Athlete of the Week Honors, and one player earned NCBWA National Hitter of the Week. The Bearcats have also broken 11 different SBU school records this past season.

To read the full article http://www.sbubearcats.com/news/2012/5/15/BASE_0515124114.aspx

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